Inside my mind
by SapphireGauntlet
Summary: An excerpt of Book 2 from Changes in Perspective (May contain spoilers from where the blood runs). Because I'm too excited I just had to publish or write this part. Tim and Sam's thoughts as they watch a stage musical.


**AN: In celebration of my birthday today (Sept.30). I present to you this story/excerpt from Book 2 of Changes in Perspective (still untitled). I'm just a little too excited to release the entire book the moment I pass the bar exams. But until then, please accept this (maybe) excerpt that may (hopefully) pass as its own story (nothing is final till the whole thing is finished – having said that this part is definitely in the story. It may be edited to fit with the flow, but it is a non-negotiable part of the story).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own totally spies, Marvel's Hellfire club or POTO or any of its wonderful songs (If you don't know what that acronym means by the end of this excerpt, the answer is in my end notes).**

"You may want to style it with an updo."

"Clover, an updo might be ruined by me leaning back in the seat."

"Well Sammie, didn't you say that this was an anniversary version of the play and it's a Hellfire exclusive members only thing."

"Yes, the cast and crew of the mystery musical will be performing in our auditorium. Good thing its near the actual Broadway street or the costs might be bigger. But Clover, I want to be comfortable while watching it." She tried to let her hair down but Clover slapped her hand away.

"Sammie trust me, with what Alex and I have seen so far, you can't afford a fashion faux pas with these people." They then hear a knock on the door before Alex came inside with Sam's blue evening gown with a bag full of Gold accessories for accents.

"Straight from your mom. What's the big deal with this party being a member's only thing when its just a play?"

"Probably their egos." The girls laughed and ultimately a compromise was met. Clover would do a half bun and it would be high enough for Sam to be able to lean back comfortably. With the success of the fundraiser the inner circle decided to award the members with an exclusive showing of a popular stage musical. Which one, she doesn't know. Normally she would be fine with a neat hairstyle and a semi-formal dress. But because her Simpson side were some of the biggest donors and contributors to the fundraiser, they were to be seated in the sponsors area or the seats which were far enough to see everything, but near enough to see the faces of the actors and if there would be off stage interactions, they would be the intended targets.

She secretly hopes that it wasn't a horror musical.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your successful contributions to our fundraiser. And as a reward for your efforts, tonight we shall be watching one of the longest running musicals in Broadway history –" was the extent that he bothered to listen to before briefly absconding to the art gallery area.

Or at the very least he thought he was going alone.

"Where do you think you're going brother dear?" While he and Geraldine are getting closer, it seems that there are some things that comes naturally to having a little sister.

"Don't mind me, I'll catch up with you in the theater."

"The theater is a large place, and while I don't doubt your abilities to get around you are my responsibility here. You're still unfamiliar with the premises, I'd rather you have a guide than not reap the benefits because you got lost."

"Being a guide doesn't mean being my parole officer and following me everywhere."

"Well since this is a no cellphone signal zone, I can't contact you by texting you now can I?" she smirks at him knowing she's made a point.

"Looking for her?"

"Why are you asking?"

"If she is going to be my sister-in-law in the future, I would like to be aware of it as soon as possible. You two looked cozy when you were dancing in the fundraiser, and she was able to have a top place in the poker tournament thanks to you." It was true that since their night of understanding, they have finally been getting closer.

Maybe soon he could perhaps win her over.

They soon found her on front of a painting talking with another woman. From bits an pieces of their conversation, it seems the latter was an artist and Sam was complementing her work.

"Thank you, it's refreshing to learn that someone gets what I was trying to say. I had to defend it to my parents saying that there's no anti-hellfire propaganda in it." The two of them laughed and Tim felt Geraldine give him a shove.

"What?"

"I'll wait right here but the three or four of us are going inside that theater together." She made a shooing motion to him before he turned back to Sam and made his way to her.

She turned around and gave him a surprised but small smile.

"Tim, this is Elena Brown. She's Nate's older sister and the artist and interior designer of this theater."

"Renovated theater, I updated this place."

"Nice to meet you too, Tim Scam a new member." He shook hands with Elena but kept Sam in his periphery.

"Welcome to the club, the lights are blinking outside, we better head to the theater now. Is that Geraldine Husk?" Geraldine in her white jumpsuit approaches them.

"The show is about to start. Come on let's go inside."

"I thought we had reserved seats?"

"We do, but I hate it when people think we're not there. Hello Elena."

"You remember me?"

"My mother is a fan of your work. Shall we?" with that the four of them head inside with Tim letting Sam hold his arm as he escorts her to her seat.

Which turns out to be both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because he was to be seated to Sam's right and to Geraldine's left.

A curse because Nate Brown was seated at Sam's left, like him he was also beside his sister.

"Nate, I thought you were still out of town heading the logistics of the Hellfire charities."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world Sam." He gives her a smile as he gestures towards her seat. He still pretends to ignore him. He feels his fist clench as Sam's attention was taken away.

"Follow your own advice and control your temper Tim." Geraldine whispers as she settles down on her seat.

"The show will be starting soon anyway."

"Is that the same guy from earlier who was thanking everyone for the fundraising?"

"Yes, he's probably going to repeat himself only this time with the actual title of the musical." He felt Sam's soft fingers lay on top of his hand.

"Are you okay Tim?" he could hear her concern. But was cut off from responding back.

"Good evening everyone, I hope you enjoy tonight's performance of the Phantom of the Opera, enjoy. Open the curtains and let the show begin."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The Phantom of the Opera? The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical? She's always heard about it but has never had the time to actually see it. From what she's heard it's Beauty and the Beast meets Little Mermaid.

"_Lot 666, a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never truly explained. We are told ladies and gentlemen that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster. Our workshops have restored it and wired parts of it with a new electric light. Perhaps we can frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination. Gentlemen!"_

The music came in full blast as the chandelier was sparked to life and began to slowly rise up with the music and the stage begins to light up. Giving the illusion that the story is back in the past. As soon as the music stopped, an actress ran to the center and began singing an aria.

"Enjoying it?" she heard Nate ask and she briefly nodded to him, not wanting to take her eyes away from the stage. Soon the prima donna Carlotta stormed out because of a set background fell on her. And a chorus girl named Christine took her place.

"_Can it be? Can it be Christine? Bravo! Long ago, it seems so long ago how young and innocent we were. She may not remember me, but I remember her."_

Raoul it turns out to be her childhood sweetheart. But the "angel of music" is holding her back.

But then the Phantom appears to be her angel of music.

"_In sleep he sang to me in dreams he came, that voice which calls to me and speaks my name. And do I dream again? For now I find. The Phantom of the Opera is there inside my mind."_

Looking back at the experience, it was one of her personal favorite parts of the show.

"_In all your fantasies, you've always knew. That man and mystery."_

"_Were both in you."_

""_And in this labyrinth where night is blind, the Phantom of the opera is there inside""_

"_my mind."_

"_your mind."_

It was upon leading her to his lair that he confesses his feelings for her.

"_Turn your face away from the garish light of day. Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light. And listen to the music of the night."_

Maybe it was the music, maybe the actor's voice was just so hypnotic and so good. But she finds herself finding some similarities with a person she knew. A person sitting beside her.

"_Only then, can you belong to me?"_

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Is the universe trying to tell him something? He wonders as he finds too many similarities between the main characters and himself, Sam and Nate.

He could understand where this guy was coming from. To fall in love with someone as pure and who has so much promise…but maybe because of his violence, because of how he functions, it may scare her off.

Scare her off into someone else's arms.

"_I gave you my music, made your song take wing. And now how you've repaid me. Denied me and betrayed me. He was bound to love you when he heard you sing_

_Christine"_

Sam

"_Christine"_

Sam

""_Say you'll share with me one love one lifetime. Say the word and I will follow you. Share each day with me each night each morning.""_ The voices of Christine and Raoul while happy and in love are echoes that instead mock him that she has made her choice.

He understood the Phantom's pain a little too well.

And the chandelier crashed to the stage signifying the end of Act 1.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Oh that was amazing, I love how Raoul is much like a prince charming and brought her away from danger. Wasn't it so romantic?" Elena chatted away as she washed her hands before reapplying her lipstick.

"It was romantic." Sam commented as she smoothed down her gown as she came out of the stall.

"Doesn't it remind you of a certain someone? A certain brother of mine?" Elena asked her cheekily as she chuckles and exits.

"I'll meet you back in our seat."

"Sure, Elena" Yes it was romantic, but it still didn't live up to her favorite sequence

The sequence wherein the Phantom escorts Christine into his lair and confesses his feelings for her.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"_Too many years fighting back tears, why can't the past just die!"_ While it was Christine who was singing, he felt it strike a cord in him.

Too many times doing his best to outsmart everything and everyone. Too many restless nights…

He feels a light slap from his right side. Geraldine was still facing the stage but he could sense she knew what he was feeling.

Different yet so similar.

Their pasts just keep chasing them.

Will it ever end?

"_Try to forgive, teach me to live. Give me the strength to try."_

To live, to breathe.

"_No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years."_

Maybe this is what the Universe is trying to tell him?

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"_Past the point of no return, the final threshold. What warm unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no return?"_

If there was a time she was glad that Tim could not see her face, it was now. She could feel herself blush as she listens to the song. She now understood what someone meant when they say a singer's voice is "liquid sex".

"_When will the flames at last consume us."_

""_Past the point of ne return, the final threshold. The bridge is crossed so stand and watch it burn. We've passed the point of no return.""_ Christine removes the hood and reveals to everyone that the Phantom has taken the role of Don Juan.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"_Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Lead me save me from my solitude."_

It was almost too much. It was almost like he was seeing himself in another form, in another place with different talents. He couldn't bear to see it anymore. Was the universe so cruel that it must mock him by showing how pathetic he was begging for his own Christine for the same thing? Tim then sneaks a glance to Sam's face and sees tears begin to flow down her cheeks.

Can it be?

"_Say you'll want me with you here beside you."_

Want…please want me…I know your feelings may have changed but please want me.

At the back of his mind, he realized that Raoul used the word "need" when he sang this to her.

Because he knew she already wants him.

Meanwhile

"_Anywhere you go let me go too. Christine that's all I ask of –"_ Christine tears his mask and he kidnaps her. Before he knew it, there was a confrontation among the three. It ended with the Phantom letting her go with Raoul. And him disappearing into the night.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"_Christine, I love you." _She couldn't help but cry more as she sees Christine despair too. To leave the man who was your inspiration, to leave the man who helped you become more.

What ultimately broke her was the Phantom nodding her to go on her way when she looked back.

"_Say you'll share with me one love one lifetime."_

What used to be the line sung first by either Raoul or the Phantom was now sung by her.

"_Say the word and I will follow you."_

The roles have been reversed, now its Raoul who is responding to her instead of the other way around.

"_Say you'll share with me each night each morning."_

"_You alone can make my song take flight. Its over now the music of the night!"_

And then soon it was the curtain call after the Phantom vanishes and in his place, was a white mask that remained.

END OF EXCERPT-

BONUS FUTURE SCENE WHICH TAKES PLACE AFTER THE SERIES BECAUSE ITS MY BIRTHDAY AND I CAN DO ALMOST ANYTHING.

"The Phantom of the Opera is there inside my mind."

"Kaycee this is the 500th time you've been singing that song."

"Lucas its my birthday, I can sing this song as many times as I want."

"Remind me again mom and dad why we need to watch this again? She's seen the 25th anniversary version 100 times per year." At this Sam and Tim chuckled at their eldest son.

"Dante, your sister hasn't seen the actual play with her own two eyes. It's a different experience when you see it live."

"Also Dante" Tim added "its Kaycee's birthday and she will be living in the college dorms soon. This is our last chance to bond as a family before she moves away."

"And people say I'm suffering from separation anxiety." Sam muttered as they've settled in their seats.

"Just a reminder sis, just because we're here, doesn't mean you have to sing a long. This is one of the few times you should lip sync." Lucas says as he places a bag on her lap.

"By the way, happy birthday."

"Awe thank you for buying me the program."

"Children its almost starting."

"Yes Mom"

**AN: The end. The play is my favorite musical The Phantom of the opera. I've long observed some similarities between Tim and Sam with the Phantom and Christine. And because I was sick of fanfictions always centered around Sam being the one to compete for Tim's affections I decided to be different. While it will obviously still have a Tim Sam happy ending, I won't make it easy for her to choose. Tim Scam needs a real rival for Sam's affections who is also not entirely black and white. I hope I graduate and pass the bar soon so that I can put the flesh to the skeleton outline of this story.**


End file.
